Mayor Donchess and the Nashua Board of Alderman decided to block one lane of Main Street in each direction from West Hollis St. to Canal St. and allow private businesses to use that area for outside dining.
Let’s review this, one step at a time.
In early 2020, the Nashua Board of Aldermen passed a local ordinance forbidding inside dining due to the fear of spreading the Covid-19 infection. Governor Sununu of New Hampshire used emergency powers to close restaurants and other businesses around the state. Hundreds of businesses have since closed their doors and thousands of employees were either temporarily furloughed or permanently laid off. Those jobs won’t be coming back: the businesses are now gone.
To permit some restaurants to get around both the local ordinance and state rules, some restaurants pleaded with Mayor Donchess and the Nashua Board of Aldermen to allow them to place tables in outside areas so they could still provide a dining experience. Those local businesses were then allowed to place tables, umbrellas, and awnings both on the sidewalk and in the on-street parking spaces. The local Department of Public Works, also under Mayor Donchess’ direction, placed Jersey barriers in the “slow lane” of Main St. in each direction. This was obviously to provide safety for those outside diners.
To my knowledge, the Zoning Board of Adjustment did not approve the use of city property for private use: the “slow lane” of Main Street was not rezoned for “commercial use.”
Nor did the City Clerk determine how much additional property was being used by those restaurants for their outside dining area and how much revenue the city was losing, both from the inability to use parking meters and the lack of additional property tax that should have been levied on those businesses.
And I’m absolutely sure that the Nashua Regional Planning Commission did not provide a study to determine the impact on traffic flow in the City of Nashua downtown area, and whether that impact would have a negative effect on the effective use of emergency vehicles.
In short, as a reaction to only some businesses in Nashua, Mayor Donchess and the Board of Aldermen short-circuited legal processes meant to protect the interests of the City of Nashua.
Now it is 2021. Both the City of Nashua and the State of New Hampshire have revoked ordinances and rules meant to allow businesses to remain open while not spreading the Covid-19 infection. The state of emergency is no longer in place. Covid-19 infections have virtually disappeared, and the residents of Nashua are trying to return their lives to a semblance of normal – or as close to normal as possible.
However, the City of Nashua still blocks one lane of Main Street in each direction to allow restaurants to use city property for commercial use.
This. Is. Wrong.
The question now must be asked: How can Mayor Donchess and the Nashua Board of Aldermen still justify giving private businesses free use of government property? The Covid-19 crisis has ended. This misuse of city property must also end. Now.
Main Street in Nashua is a central artery for traffic heading through the city. Although it is possible to use side streets to go north and south through the city of Nashua, there is already a maze of one-way streets that forces drivers into a “you can’t get there from here” situation. For example, how does a driver get from Temple St westbound onto High Street westbound? And how does a driver do that with part of Main St. blocked from traffic?
No, Veteran’s Parkway – the now-renamed Broad Street Parkway – does not provide a way to travel through downtown Nashua. Cars enter the parkway near Exit 6 and travel across the river into the Millyard, and must still encounter a maze of one-way and side streets to get to downtown Nashua locations. In short, Veteran’s Parkway is not a viable “alternate route” to Main Street.
Mayor Donchess and the Nashua Board of Aldermen need to revisit whether they have created an untenable situation by blocking part of Main Street to normal use by vehicles. And now with the Covid-19 restrictions completely dropped, it is time for the City of Nashua to encourage Main Street dining establishments to return to their normal mode of operation: inside dining, with a few tables on the sidewalk that do not block pedestrian traffic. And it is time for the City of Nashua to open Main Street to normal traffic: both lanes operating in each direction.
